Back to the Tetons again!!!!

I'm going to be back in the Tetons for Summer 2010! Can't wait!

I'm going to miss the Tetons.... and hopefully I won't be away too long.

So, I know it's been forever since I put up a post here, but I thought I'd put one more up before I leave. The last few weeks have been a little crazy at work trying to finish everything up and leave what I've been owrking on in some sense of order, in addition to freaking out about my thesis project. The other thing I've also been doing is realizing how much I haven't been able to do while I've been here... hikes, climbs, bars... So, this past weekend my fantastic friend Robyn and her fiance Justin came to visit and we took a trip up into Paintbrush Canyon. We camped at Holly Lake and well..... there was no snow when we got there and this is what we woke up to. It was 28 degrees when I left my cabin this morning, so up there it must have been in the teens. I FROZE in my bag rated for 20 degrees. I think I spent the entire night rubbing my legs to keep them warm and fell asleep for about an hour from the exhaustion.

It was FANTASTIC though the next morning. The most amazing sunrise ever... What an amazing thing to see before I leave. What a change it's going to be to come back to the humidity of Charleston. I'm a little worried about hopping off that plane into the heat. Anyway, I'm going to miss Jackson and Grand Teton so much and I am so not ready to leave yet. For those of you who I haven't talked to recently, I'm seriously considering the move out here after graduation. It's such a wonderful place full of friendly people that love to spend time in the outdoors. Until then, I'll be in school and working at Half-Moon - yay!

See you all soon! I'll be flying into Charleston on the 22nd because I have a wonderful mother and she's agreed to fly out here and drive my car home so that I can stay out here for another week. Love you, mom. :)

I made it to the top of the Grand Teton!

 

I'm never taking a camera to Glacier again....

(This was written a while ago before the trip up the Grand and should have been posted earlier, but I'm a little off with the blogging right now.)

So, it has been a while and I apologize…  I lost my blogging stride a little after going off to Glacier for the Fourth of July.  We had quite a blast and it completely wore me out.

So, one my favorite new things about the park service is their policy on holidays.  They’ll never screw you out of a holiday if it falls on your day off (colleges should think about instituting this…)  Basically, the Fourth fell on a Saturday and I’m normally off on Fridays (I work 4 – 10 hour days) so I got of Thursday.  YAY for a three day week, while getting paid for four! 

Anyway, so Anna and I left for Glacier!  Alex, her fellow intern, and his roommate Matt joined us as well.  The drive wasn’t too bad, around eight hours in the green rolling hills of Idaho and Montana.  Saw a few interesting things on the way…  First, for some reason all bales of hay in Idaho are square.  Kinda looks like a farmer’s version of modern art.  And, apparently, there’s nothing else to do out in the middle of nowhere…. Sad.

On the first night in we stopped at Charlie’s Bar in Babb, MT on the eastern side of the park… the local bar on the res.  It was a very interesting outlook on local Indian/Park relations.  Definitely a decent amount of animosity between the two, especially concerning the most recent fire out there that originated in the park and spread to the reservation.  And the place was carpeted…. Eeeww.  (But, all together, totally worth going.  Plus, Babb is the coolest town ever.  Had to get a Babb T-shirt.)  Ended up camping in St. Mary’s in the park.  Okay campground, but not fabulous, campsites were WAY.

Second day was our day in Glacier …  The plan was to do the Highline trail but we had heard that it wasn’t open yet.  We ended up going to Iceberg Lake and then up the scree field to where the Shangri La Trail is but ended up sliding on our butts all the way back down.  Tons of fun, but hard on the knees.  Made our way across the park on the Going-To-The-Sun Road (just as awesome as last year!) and anna and i jumped in the flathead on the side of the road.  CRAZY COLD.  But super fun.  

And the culmination of the trip.......  POLEBRIDGE.  My first ever hippie commune.  Living off the grid at its finest.  (And, the mercantile is on the National Register of Historic Places, so it was totally educational.)   

Frisbee and beer games and music all day long.  Met tons of awesomely hilarious people camped on the banks of the river with a huge bonfire....  If only I hadn't lost my camera somewhere in that crazy town.  :(

So, on Sunday, David (one of the other interns) and I took a hike up to Jackson Peak, the highest peak in the Gros Ventre range at 10,715 feet in elevation. Basically it gives an awesome 360 degree view of the Grand and the Gros Ventre. So, unfortunately this will be another short post... Anna and I and Alex (her fellow intern) and his roommate and her friend Chris are all going to Glacier National Park for the fourth of July weekend. Tonight is grocery shopping and depositing my pay check! Work is going well, it's still a lot of paper work, but I'm actually putting those interior design skills to work... putting together a furniture plan for White Grass Ranch - the one that the WCHP is restoring to use as a training center for preservation skills.

Otherwise, I'm still at a loss with what to do for my thesis.... if anyone out there has any ideas or inspiration, I'm desperate!

Goodwin Lake

Plenty of snow to travel over... that's for sure... Jackson Peak is right at the top there.

View from halfway up to the peak...

More views... and David!

Hello from halfway to the peak!

View from the top! OKAY, so the coolest part about this picture. The Grand Teton is the tallest peak in this photo. Go two peaks to the left and then straight down to the first thin long patch of lighter green color. I live on the far right side of that. Pretty sweet. Now, doesn't that make you want to come and visit???

More views from the top...

Cute, huh?

Until they start chewing no your stuff because of the salt...

okay, so not to get political....

but it's a little crazy that the Green Heron made national news.... stupid scum Sanford.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31605085/ns/politics-washington_post/?GT1=43001
more pictures tomorrow... On Sunday David and I climbed Jackson Peak. 10, 715 feet in elevation. Yay for snow!

We'll see if this works... Video from right below our campsite...